On Fri, 24 Feb 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:
> This variation is seen regularly in American wigeons, at a very low
> frequency (lower even than the frequency of American x Eurasian hybrids, I
> think). I have photos of one from Green Lake in March 1977, and I have
> seen them on and off over the years. Obviously not the same bird, it may
> be a rare recessive mutation. I don't think it indicates hybridization
> with any other species. How many of these birds have been seen recently,
> tweeters?

There was one of these cream-faced males in a flock of 150+ American
Wigeon at Matthews Beach (north of Sand Point in Seattle) in early January
(one Eurasian male in that flock as well). An article on hybrids by
D. Sibley that appeared this past summer in Birding agreed with Dennis
that this is simply an unusual morph of American and not indicative of
hybridization.

David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu